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Forgiving from the Heart

 


This post was written by Bessie Wilson.

“Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, ‘Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?’” (Matt. 18:21)

We know Jesus’ answer: “Not seven times, but seventy-seven times” (v. 22). The King James renders this “seventy times seven.” Regardless whether it is seventy-seven times or four hundred ninety times, it is obvious that Jesus put no limit on the times we are to forgive.

Then Jesus recounts a remarkable story. It pictures a servant’s enormous debt which was canceled because of the mercy of his master. But it also pictures the minor debt which this same servant would not cancel towards a fellow servant. Not content with choking him, he also put him into prison. The other servants soon informed their master of this cruel behavior. The master withdrew his cancellation of debt and turned the servant over to the jailers “until he should pay back all he owed” (v. 34). Jesus’ words at the conclusion of the story are very sobering: “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart” (v. 35).

To the degree we are grateful to our heavenly Father for the enormous debt He forgave us, to that degree we should, from our hearts, forgive our brothers and sisters. If we find we cannot do so, perhaps we are not really aware of what our sin cost Jesus Christ on the cross.

I cannot forget Corrie ten Boom’s story regarding an experience she had in Munich after World War II. She was approached by a former SS guard who had been stationed in the shower room at Ravensbruck, the concentration camp she and her sister were sent to, and where her sister died. “How grateful I am for your message, Fraulein,” he greeted her. “To think that, as you say, He has washed my sins away!” He thrust out his hand to shake hers. She who had preached so often about the need to forgive kept her hand at her side.

Even as the angry, vengeful thoughts boiled through me, I saw the sin of them. Jesus Christ had died for this man; was I going to ask for more? “Lord Jesus, forgive me and help me to forgive him.” I tried to smile, I struggled to raise my hand. I could not. I felt nothing, not the slightest spark of warmth or charity. And so again I breathed a silent prayer. “Jesus, I cannot forgive him. Give me your forgiveness.”

As I took his hand the most incredible thing happened. From my shoulder along my arm and through my hand a current seemed to pass from me to him, while into my heart sprang a love for this stranger that almost overwhelmed me.[1]

Notice that Corrie’s forgiveness came from the heart, not manufactured by her, but in answer to her prayer, “I cannot forgive; give me Your forgiveness.”

It is always good to have forgiveness ready in our hearts in order to grant forgiveness to others. Has someone wronged you and not put it right? Have forgiveness ready. There is no better way to do this than to dwell on the magnitude of the debt of our own sin that Jesus Christ bore on the cross.


[1] Ten Boom, Corrie. The Hiding Place.

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